Cape Dory 27 circumnavigation

[sanibel sailor]

I did Virginia to Bermuda (November) and (April) back solo, in a CD 26. Written up in CDSOA's Masthead. Weight is a real issue. I did not manage it as well as I could have. Some things have the same weight on a 26 footer as a 40 footer, like liferaft and dinghy. These are light narrow and fairly tender boats. If you already own it, go for it.

[barnakiel]

BTW I met a guy on our side of the pond who sailed his from the US to Europe. He was very happy about his boat and had no negative things to say.


Probably the kind of info you want to know about this design.



b.

[alansmith]

Don’t forget your get out of jail card with something like an Garmin In-Reach if something causes abandon ship.

I would install a composting toilet and get rid of all that nasty arse tankage and hoses.

If rerigging the beast seriously look at dynema. Many places in the world don’t have access to swaged fittings. All the around the world racers use it. Why? Stronger than stainless steel , can learn how to do your own splices, cheaper overall, can do your own rigging repairs. Sometimes with stainless it is difficult to detect a failure waiting to happen. Plenty of literature to support that unpleasantness.

Your self steering mechanism is probably number one or number two on many sailors absolute must have lists. I would like to say you should also have a autopilot on hand. There are plenty of times that sea conditions or wind strength won’t work well with a wind vane. It is very taxing to have to constantly tend a tiller or adjust frequently when using bungy cords.

Lastly, staying out of the weather with Bimini or hard dodgers is paramount to sanity and morale. If you are slogging for days ... that shizzle will make u nut case.

[Greg K]

I believe the smaller CDs all had their hull to deck joint fastened with screws. For serious ocean cruising, thru-bolting that joint would probably be a good idea. Both the couple on the CD25 as well as the guy who circumnavigated on the 28 did that upgrade if I'm not mistaken.


Love the Alberg designs. Owned an A30 and CD36. Both very sweet rides and capable ocean cruisers.

[Breaking Waves]

Originally Posted by alansmith

If rerigging the beast seriously look at dynema. .. All the around the world racers use it.

no, they don't.

Composite rigging is common in the rtw racing, but it is NOT dyneema. Carbon is by far the first choice for composite rigging in that arena (with pbo a distant second). And carbon is a hugely different beast than dyneema.

Future fibers is the leader in that market, and their premier product has been the carbon ecsix , although their 'premium' product now is an aero shaped version aerosix.

Dyneema does have some application in the rtw racing crowd in runners and torque ropes and such 'flexible' stays, but even there it is probably a minority application to other fibers.

[alansmith]

Breaking waves, I stand corrected on rtw scene. But almost all multihull racers at Nationals in USA use dynema. Also I stand by my statement of strength bs stainless. It is also user friendly for repair.

[Boatguy30]

Yes the hull to decks are screwed together and polyester resin is the binder,I believe.

Overall the Cape Dory's are like a 80s Cadillac. Shitty GM car with some leather and plastic gold trim.

There are SO many boats you can buy almost ready to go in the 30-35' range and be more comfortable and not really spend much more money.

[barnakiel]

As much as soft rigging has it benefits as mentioned above, I would stick with plain 1x19 SS wires in this specific boat. As it came with SS wires, and all fittings for SS wires.

If one fears a replacement can be required, it is better to pre-order one of each wires or else have some wire and quick fittings onboard (norseman sta-lok type).

The second solution, wire+quick fittings, is great - if all wire is same size. If lowers are finer, then carrying one of each spare is more reasonable.

Rigging failure is a nuisance but it is difficult (like with any other failure) to guess what will be required. E.g. we carried wire and when we had a failure we needed ... the inmast backing plates. Ough.

In our boat, which is a bit like yours, most rigging failures were the lowers though. Two fails and one near fail in some 60k miles. One fail every 20k or so then. We had all rigging wires new before departing.

So, yes, if you go far to places where there are no riggers nor DHL delivery, think ahead of how to fix everything and anything with what you carry onboard!

b.

[Orion Jim]

Originally Posted by Boatguy30

Yes the hull to decks are screwed together and polyester resin is the binder,I believe.

Overall the Cape Dory's are like a 80s Cadillac. Shitty GM car with some leather and plastic gold trim.

There are SO many boats you can buy almost ready to go in the 30-35' range and be more comfortable and not really spend much more money.

Overall your description is fundamentally flawed.
All the larger Cape Dory’s had a polyester bonding compound between the deck and the hull flange and they were mechanically fastened with 1/4”SS bolts on 12” centers. Additionally the teak toe rail was attached on 12” centers with SS self tapping screws.
You can learn more here: CDSOA, Inc. -- Groups & Publications

[edmundsteele]

I would never have thought of comparing the Cape Dory to an 80’s GM product. My CD28 is more like the original Fiat 500 – you know - the one with the rear mounted, two cylinder, air-cooled engine. Minimalist but built like a tank.

I wouldn’t deliberately pick a CD 28 for a circumnavigation, I like my comfort (read “beer”) too much and would go for perhaps a 34 footer for blue water single handing. In my opinion, the weakness of the CD 28 is not the rigging, hull or sailing capabilities, these are fine; the weakness is the interior. A boat like the Amel Super Maramu is designed and intended for water sailing">blue water sailing but I would be very surprised if the 1970’s original purchasers of the Cape Dorys had this type of sailing in mind. For example, imagine a complete capsize where the boat becomes inverted. Will the batteries remain in place? How about the engine? Will the floor lockers, kitchen storage etc., stay closed holding their contents intact and in place? I’m not talking about a few seat cushions and bedding, I’m talking about a mixture of broken glass, cooking oil, flour, rice and ballistic cans spread around the interior. Will the anchor and rode stay firmly stowed? What are the chances that the dinghy will still be there when the vessel rights itself?

Maybe not super high risk events for say, crossing the Atlantic but catching a few “end of hurricane / cyclone season” storms are a real possibility when going all the way around.

The great thing about the Cape Dorys are that the inherent interior weaknesses are easily fixed.

Ed
(pontificating from coronavirus lockdown)

[Boatguy30]

I still occasionally see 80s GM cars driving around in FL so there you go! I'm wrong

[AiniA]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

As much as soft rigging has it benefits as mentioned above, I would stick with plain 1x19 SS wires in this specific boat. As it came with SS wires, and all fittings for SS wires.

If one fears a replacement can be required, it is better to pre-order one of each wires or else have some wire and quick fittings onboard (norseman sta-lok type).

The second solution, wire+quick fittings, is great - if all wire is same size. If lowers are finer, then carrying one of each spare is more reasonable.

Rigging failure is a nuisance but it is difficult (like with any other failure) to guess what will be required. E.g. we carried wire and when we had a failure we needed ... the inmast backing plates. Ough.

In our boat, which is a bit like yours, most rigging failures were the lowers though. Two fails and one near fail in some 60k miles. One fail every 20k or so then. We had all rigging wires new before departing.

So, yes, if you go far to places where there are no riggers nor DHL delivery, think ahead of how to fix everything and anything with what you carry onboard!

b.

In keeping with the keep the weight down thread, get a piece of wire as long as the longest of your stays. If you use Sta-lok or Hayn fittings you can replace a stay as needed. I get a sense that Norseman have sort of fallen out of favour. I agree with Barnakiel that lowers, specifically aft lowers are the weak point in the rig. We started with new rig but had to replace both aft lowers. Typical trade wind sailing puts a lot of strain on the aft lowers. On the recommendation of a rigger in South Africa, where they know about strains on rigs in windy places we upgraded the size of the aft lowers to the same as the cap shrouds and fore and back stay.

[swordds]

Just a suggestion - Webb Chiles recently completed a circumnavigation in a Moore 24 without wind vane steering, relying on sheet-to-tiller steering. I own an Alberg 30 (also a Carl Alberg design) and use sheet-to-tiller steering consistently with good success. Like other seamanship skills it does take some dedication and practice (and a tiller). Find a copy of the out of print book “Self-Steering for Sailing Craft” by John S Letcher, Jr for information. Probably not as great as a windvane but certainly cheaper to buy and easier to install and a challenging and fun sailing skill to learn.

[Carl-T705]

Did you buy that CD 27 that was for sale in Stuart FL?? If so that was a great buy.
If so, I can put you in contact with a serious person about refitting a 27 for ocean sailing, well any type of sailing. I would post some real problems here and what to do for repairs but every time a thread like this gets started it runs amuck . Good Luck with your new Dory

[s/v Breakaway]

Two books you may want to consider: "Cruising: From Dream to Reality," by Martin P. Hederich, about ocean cruising in a Westerly 23, and "The Seaworthy Offshore Sailboat," by John Vigor on modifying any boat for offshore cruising.